After pedestrian accidents, local municipalities explore traffic design to make streets safer for walkers

Two pedestrians cross Washington Avenue where it intersects with North Front Street in uptown Kingston. Vehicles can be coming from multiple directions at this site at any one time.
Tania Barricklo — Daily Freeman

In light of January pedestrian accidents in Saugerties that left a local man dead, and in Tivoli, that killed two Bard students, many local officials are looking at how they can redesign streets to make them safer for pedestrians.

Kristen Wilson, Live Well Kingston Coordinator at the Ulster County Cornell Cooperative Extension, said she’s worked with the city of Kingston to redesign its streets to make them safer and more attractive to pedestrians over the last four years in what’s known as a “Complete Streets Initiative.”

“It’s a question of equity for children, seniors, disabled folks and others who are unable to drive a car,” she said.“If you go around Kingston in a wheelchair, I think you would find it difficult to navigate the sidewalks.”

Impassable sidewalks force people in wheelchairs or parents with strollers onto the street creating a higher chance for accidents. Even when folks use sidewalks and crosswalks, dangers still persist, especially at long crosswalks, or when it takes a pedestrian a long time to clear a crosswalk, she added.

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“A perfect example is the Albany Avenue and Clinton Avenue intersection,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of people struggling to get across that intersection.”

Wilson said safer streets also offer an opportunity for economic development by making it easier for people to see business signs.

“Safer streets are like urban rooms. When people feel comfortable, they go into stores helping to attract and support businesses,” she said. “We’ve worked with many partners in Kingston over the last four years and helped to develop the Complete Streets Advisory Council sanctioned by the Common Council,” she said, adding that the inspiration for the program grew out of an initiative at the Cornell Cooperative Extension to reduce childhood obesity.

She’s worked with the village of Ellenville and is working on setting up a similar advisory council in Saugerties this year.

According to Wilson, the definition of a complete street varies depending on where someone lives in the county.

“Not every single rural road in Ulster County is going to have a sidewalk,” she said. “In the city of Kingston, a safe street would have sidewalks and places where people can get across the street in an easy and accessible way.”

She said it’s easier to improve pedestrian safety in older communities like Kingston and the village of Saugerties where infrastructure was built for pedestrians as opposed to newer suburban areas, adding that many pedestrian improvement projects are already in the works in Kingston including a project that would revamp the intersection of Interstate Route 587, Broadway and Albany Avenue with construction slated for 2016.

“A couple of years ago, the Common Council of Kingston passed a resolution recommending the Ulster County Planning Department’s “I587 intersection study,” she said.

These improvements would replace the present intersection with a low-speed roundabout that would keep traffic moving preventing long backups. Pedestrians would have “natural crossing” points that would allow them to cross fewer lanes at each intersection as long blocks encourage jaywalking and long crosswalks make for a dangerous area for pedestrians.

“There will be more green space near the sidewalk, and this will attract more pedestrians and help businesses in the area,” she said.

Another area in Kingston that Wilson said is slated for pedestrian improvements is Broadway.

Gregg Swanzey, Director of the Office of Economic Development and Strategic Partnerships at the city of Kingston, said the city is considering a “road diet” for the 60-foot wide street with bike lanes and newer stoplights with controllers that will make the street safer for pedestrians and drivers.

“Technology is improving all of the time to help smooth traffic flows and reduce waiting time for anyone who comes to the intersection, both driver and pedestrian,” he said. “You also have other alternatives beyond lights and stop signs to slow traffic down.”

Swanzey said he hopes to have the project under construction within two years.

He also said that the city is also working to improve the intersection of Washington Avenue, Schwenk Drive and Hurley Avenue along with the Washington Avenue and North Front Street intersection with new stop lights that improve pedestrian safety and traffic flow.

Beau Duffy, a spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation, said many factors go into a corridor study before construction can begin.

“We look at traffic counts at different times of the day, observe how pedestrians use sidewalks and the roadway,” he said. “Then there is lots of data mining. Our goal is to make the road safe for all users when we do a study.”

In Saugerties, local officials are working to get a new stoplight with pedestrian signals installed at the intersection of Partition Street and Main Street where a local man was killed in January, Police Chief Joe Sinagra said.

Sinagra said he hopes construction begins this year on a stoplight at the intersection of Main Street and Washington Avenue, a project 10 years in the making, adding that enhanced crosswalks with improved visibility for drivers and pedestrians are also in the works.

In the meantime, the Saugerties Police Department is stepping up its pedestrian education and enforcement efforts by adopting the “See Be Seen” campaign, which is sponsored by the state Department of Health and the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee.

Sinagra said he will also work with local businesses to place posters throughout Saugerties and create public service announcements for local TV and radio stations.

As these initiatives gain traction, state Department of Motor Vehicle figures show that pedestrian fatalities have been a relative rarity in the Hudson Valley. In 2012, there was one pedestrian death out of the 11 traffic fatalities that occurred in Ulster County. In the same year, Dutchess County had one pedestrian death out of 15 traffic fatalities while Columbia County had one pedestrian death out of six vehicle fatalities and Greene County had none, agency figures said.

According to those same figures, 312 pedestrians were killed statewide in 2012, which equaled nearly 27 percent of all New York traffic deaths.